Stock Market Today: Stocks mixed into quarter-end; Fed's Waller warns on rates

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U.S. equity futures were mixed in early Thursday trading, while the dollar powered higher against its global peers, as investors tweaked their near-term interest-rate forecasts while eyeing tomorrow's key inflation-data release.

Updated at 8:37 AM EDT

Keeps getting better

The Commerce Department's final estimate of fourth quarter GDP came in stronger than expected, with a tally of 3.4% compared to its prior forecast of 3.2%.

A key inflation metric inside the data, the quarterly PCE Price Index, eased to 2%, putting it on a steady +2% pace for the final six months of last year.

At the same time, the Labor Department said new applications for unemployment benefits fell by another 2,000 last week, to 210,000, for the week ending on March 23.

4Q2023 GDP Core Price Index revised down from +2.1% to +2% … second consecutive quarter at +2% pic.twitter.com/G39B9ggBGU— Liz Ann Sonders (@LizAnnSonders) March 28, 2024

Stock Market Today

Stocks ended higher Wednesday, with the S&P 500 notching another all-time high at the close of trading and extending its first-quarter gain past 10%. Markets digested another massive Treasury bond auction and booked gains for megacap tech stocks.

The S&P 500 has a shot at being up 10% or more in back-to-back quarters for the first time since Q4 '11 and Q1 '12.

That was also an election year.